OLYMPIC BID WORKSHOP
On 12 January, the Olympic Bid Management Group – Jacques Fontaine and Andrew Shelley (WSF) and Alex Gough and Tommy Berden (PSA) from within the WSF Olympic Games Commission met in Paris with bid campaign agency Weber Shandwick to start putting the building blocks in place intended to carry us to a place on the Paris 2024 Games Programme.
The kick off workshop allowed for free-thinking, discussion and agreement on the strategic direction of the campaign and on the critical elements that will turn the strategy into an operational campaign ready for activation.
The agenda covered an extensive range of bid facets including:
- Key learnings from past campaigns
- Reviewing developments
- Mapping out key Olympic stakeholders
- The competition we face
- Strengths & attributes (weaknesses too)
- Messages, narratives and pledges
- Materials
- Bid phasing
- Operational and media management
The backdrop of this is the IOC Agenda 2020 principles which will be an important benchmark, as the IOC and Paris 2024 (and Los Angeles 2028) will be assessing sports against it.
The new campaign will present fully cohesive communication highlighting that squash is a unified sport through the WSF and PSA relationship. This unity extends beyond the Olympic bid and will enhance the brand of squash as a whole.
The role and value of the contribution of Member Federations cannot be underestimated either. Liaison with Paris alone will not be enough to bring success. As Members you all have a key role in promoting these messages, meeting key influencers, especially IOC members, in your country. Where possible we welcome contributions from Members to help to raise funds needed for squash to mount a comprehensive bid in our quest for success.
Of course it will take a little time for the initial discussions to feed through into messages and materials which will become available to National Federations. As they start to do so, WSF President Jacques Fontaine will represent WSF at the Olympic Session that take place in Pyeongchang during the XXII Winter Games, having accepted an IOC invitation to attend.
WSF VOTING STRUCTURE & REPRESENTATION REVIEW
This review will take place under the chairmanship of WSF Vice President Huang Ying How. When arrangements are in place Members will have the opportunity to input to the review group.
WOMEN’S WORLD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP 2018
We hope that we will be able to finalise hosting of this Championship by the end of the month and will update members accordingly.
WSF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018
Entries for the Men’s World Junior Team event being held in Chennai, India (24 – 29 July) have now closed. Subject to them all completing their entry by paying their entry fee by 18 February there will be 25 entries.
Entries for the Men’s and Women’s World Individuals (18 – 23 July) will open in early February with the General Information being circulated to all Members then too.
REMINDERS
WSF FACEBOOK PAGE
If you have any events or other interesting news that you think would be of interest to the wider squash world and would like us to share it on the WSF Facebook page, please don’t hesitate to send the WSF Office the details
CALENDAR UPLOADED
The WSF World Calendar is updated monthly; you can add your National Championships to it here.
WSF COACH EDUCATION PROGRAMME
Full details can be found here along with a list of National Course Managers.
WSF DIRECTORY
The current edition of the WSF Directory with updated National Federation addresses, WSF Commission details, and much more besides is on the WSF website. Please check your information and let us know of any changes for the next edition please.
